Godspeed Hilton Valentine

Hilton Valentine, founding member and guitarist for The Animals, died on January 29 2021 at the age of 77.

Hilton Valentine was born in North Shields, Northumberland on May 21 1943. His mother bought him his first guitar when he was thirteen years of age. He taught himself to play. Like many young Englishmen, during the skiffle craze of the Fifties, he formed his own skiffle group called The Heppers. By 1959 The Heppers had evolved into a rock band called The Wildcats. The Wildcats proved to be popular and eventually recorded an LP at Morton Sound titled Sounds of The Wildcats.

It was in 1963 that bassist Chas Chandler recruited Hilton Valentine for a group named The Alan Price Combo. The Alan Price Combo eventually became The Animals. The Animals proved popular in Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding area. In 1964 they moved to London. They were signed to Columbia and had a transatlantic hit with their version of the standard "House of the Rising Sun." The single went to no. 1 on the UK singles chart, the Billboard Hot 100, and the Canadian singles chart. Their first album, The Animals, was released not long afterwards. It would also do well on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Animals would have several hits following "House of the Rising Sun," including "I'm Crying," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," and "Don't Bring Me Down."  The group also released the albums The Animals on Tour, Animal Tracks, and Animalisms. While The Animals had a great deal of success, by 1966 the original band had begin to disintegrate. Hilton Valentine left in September 1966 when the original line-up of The Animals fell apart. Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins continued with a new line-up as Eric Burdon and The Animals.

Hilton Valentine moved to California and released a solo album titled All In Your Head in 1969, as well as the single "It's All In Your Head"/"I'm A Dreamer." Afterwards he returned to the United Kingdom. Over the years he took part in various reunions of The Animals, including one from 1975 to 1976, and a second in 1983. The Nineties saw Hilton Valentine leading further incarnations of The Animals, including Hilton Valentine's Animals (in 1992) and Animals II (1993-1994), and further incarnations of the band into 2001. Along with Eric Burdon, Chas Chandler, Alan Price, and John Steel were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

In the Naughts, Hilton Valentine returned to his roots in skiffle. He formed the band Skiffledog and released the albums It's Folk 'N' Skiffle, Mate!, Skiffledog on Coburg ST, and Merry Skifflemas.

Hilton Valentine was one of the all-time great British guitarists. Indeed, an argument can be made that it was his opening chords on The Animals' version of "House of the Rising Sun" that made it a hit. Eric Burdon himself gave Mr. Valentine much of the credit for The Animals' success, saying in an interview with Guitar International that Hilton Valentine "...made the early Animals a rock band because I don't think the element of rock was in the band until we found him." Hilton Valentine's superb guitar work gave The Animals a sound quite different from other bands of the time. He certainly proved to be an influence on many guitarists that followed him.